In conventional cellular networks, access points, also sometimes referred to as base stations, are normally installed and commissioned after a careful upfront planning and survey process. The terms access points and base stations are used in the present application interchangeably and are not intended to be limited to a specific type of access point or base station. Post installation, extensive optimization efforts are often undertaken to maximize the performance of the network. Such optimization may also involve a considerable amount of “drive testing” using special test mobiles to collect data on network performance at a variety of geographical locations. This data is then post-processed and analyzed to determine inputs for optimization. These optimization steps typically involve power adjustments and antenna tilt adjustments.
There is a growing trend towards deployment of cellular infrastructure in the conventional macro cellular mode as well as local area (LAN) mode. In the latter deployment mode, installation procedures are often less planned than macrocellular deployments. Base stations, or access points, are often sited based on considerations of power and network connectivity availability and based on ease of mounting. For example, access points may be installed on ceiling tiles, walls, or even on outdoor mounting assets for campus deployments. In such deployments, ease of installation and tuning can be important to successful deployment and use.
While in conventional cellular networks, the cost of “drive testing” and other costly and time intensive measurement approaches may be justified given the large number of devices being served by a single cell site in the local area mode where cell sites tend to be much smaller with access being limited to a particular group of people, e.g., employees of a company, university, etc., such costly procedures may not be justifiable from a cost and time perspective. However, improperly deployed cell sites operating in a local area mode or very small cell, providing access to a limited set of people as opposed to the public, may create interference to cell sites serving the general public since they may share the same licensed spectrum.
Accordingly there is a need for methods and apparatus for simplifying deployment and tuning of system configuration settings of small cell sites, e.g., cell sites operating in a local area mode of operation. In addition to facilitating initial set up, there is also a need for methods and apparatus which can facilitate network self optimization without the need for drive-testing and other such conventional methods of network optimization which do not scale well and can be costly to implement.